Indonesia officially submitted its document ratifying the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) to the ASEAN Secretariat, according to the secretariat’s January 20 press release.

This is the final step the country has to take to become a member of the agreement.

To date, all 10 ASEAN member states have ratified the AATHP, which is expected to help the region intensify cooperation in dealing with cross-border haze pollution.

The group is speeding up the establishment of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Trans-boundary Haze Pollution.

The AATHP was signed by all ASEAN member states on June 10, 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The agreement came into effect on November 25, 2003, although Indonesia had not ratified it.

The agreement is the first regional arrangement in the world that binds a group of contiguous states to tackle trans-boundary haze pollution resulting from land and forest fires.-VNA